The partial federal government shutdown is now in its third week. Wednesday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi proved both short and non-productive.

The American people are thoroughly frustrated and ... understandably so. Immigration and border problems are at the heart of the dispute. President Trump promised to erect a wall, and funding for the barrier has not been forthcoming.

Actually, our leaders have been kicking this conundrum down the road for far too long. It is time to dispense with the bloviating bluster and resolve this situation.

First, we need to clearly distinguish between building a physical barrier and taking meaningful measures to secure our borders in a fair and effective manner.

Simply erecting a large, multi-billion dollar wall will not prevent aliens from entering our territory. Only the hopelessly naive believe our complex border problems can be ignored or solved via the construction of a high barrier. Unique segments of the border require diverse strategies.

Thankfully, tools are available. Rather than wasting more time waiting for headstrong politicians to bend, it is time for the politicians to step aside and assemble a non-partisan panel of security experts to design a state-of-the-art, sector-by-sector blueprint for safeguarding our borders.

By supporting our border patrol with sensors, radar, drones and other surveillance devices, we can secure points of entry less expensively and more efficiently.

Rather than spending years — if not decades — engaged in eminent domain lawsuits and the laborious construction of a physical wall susceptible to breach, the employment of computerized monitoring would allow law enforcement to focus on interdiction, thus preventing individuals and contraband from entering our border communities.

We have squandered too much energy, time and treasure punting this “political football” to and fro with no satisfactory result. Yes, we need to secure our borders. No, this should not mandate the construction of an expensive, archaic wall.

Ample middle ground abounds for creative minds open to compromise. As citizens, we should send an unmistakable message to our leaders — on both sides of the aisle — to get back to work, cease the selfish stubbornness and do what public servants are elected to do: discover solutions to problems and keep our nation moving forward.